


The Smallest Things

by Ellie5192



Series: Two Birds [7]
Category: E/R (1984)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-06
Updated: 2013-04-06
Packaged: 2017-12-07 15:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/749919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie5192/pseuds/Ellie5192
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”<br/>― A.A. Milne</p><p>She's clutching at her stomach, rubbing gently as though to relieve the queasiness she’s been feeling all week… He wants more than anything for this not to be about dodgy Chinese take away, and that’s also a little bit scary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Smallest Things

**_The Smallest Things_ **

 

“Howard, can I talk to you?” 

He looks up from the chart he’s reviewing and sees Eve standing in the doorway to the break room. She looks perfectly professional, as always, but there’s nervousness there too. He hands the chart to Joan with a nod, and she nods in return. 

“Sure” he says, walking towards the doorway. She walks into the room and he follows, closing the door behind him. 

“What’s up?”

She’s pacing anxiously on the spot, a look on her face that sits somewhere between terror and joy. It could be any number of things that’s worrying her; their jobs, or Harold finding some way to interfere with their relationship. But the way she’s struggling over her words suggests it’s more personal than that.

“I’m late” 

“For what?” 

She stops pacing and rolls her eyes at him. 

“Late, Howard, late” she says pointedly, eyebrows raised and hands looping in the air. His brow furrows.

“Late…” He stops himself as realisation dawns. “Oh! Late!”

“Right”

“Are you sure? I mean, do you think-?”

She looks nervous again, and maybe a bit scared. She shrugs one shoulder. He takes a step towards her.

“I don’t know. I’m only a week overdue, but that’s not the norm for me”

“How do you feel?”

She smiles wider at that, her panic melting for a moment as she looks him in the eye, her hand unconsciously moving to her abdomen. 

“Different. I think. But I don’t know, that could just be the Chinese food Jenny made me eat last night”

She's clutching at her stomach, rubbing gently as though to relieve the queasiness she’s been feeling all week. He’d been worried she was coming down with something. He’s got an unreadable expression on his face, and though they knew this was always on the table, they’ve only been seeing each other for a few months. It still feels new, and he can understand her trepidation. He feels himself going into the same guarded hysteria he felt when he thought his ex-wife was pregnant, and recognises that he’s far more excited by the prospect of it being true for Eve, if only because they are in such a good place, and this is everything she wants. He wants more than anything for this not to be about dodgy Chinese take away, and that’s also a little bit scary.

“Will you take a look?” she asks sheepishly. 

“You sure?”

She nods. “Either way, you’re going to need to know”

He steps towards her and holds out his arms, and she closes the distance and steps into them. 

“No matter what, it’s okay, Eve. We’re okay. Okay?”

She nods against his chest. “I’m nervous”

“About what? Seeing something, or not seeing something?”

“I don’t know”

“Well why don’t we go find out what we’re so afraid of?”

She nods again and pulls back. He plants a small kiss on her lips, rubs her arms, and then leads the way back into the ER. It’s thankfully a quiet night. 

“Joan?” 

“Yeah?”

“Can you please prep Doctor Sheridan for an ultrasound?” he asks quietly, discretely. 

“Sure. Ace, keep an eye on Mr Collins” 

Eve walks over to the bed with the curtain around it, takes off her lab coat and folds it over the foot of the bed. Joan comes around the curtain a moment later, wheeling the ultrasound trolley with her. Eve settles herself on the bed, feeling slightly naked without her medical apparel.

“You okay Doc?” asks the nurse casually. 

She must know what this is all about; Eve hasn’t exactly been silent over her desire to have a baby. But the fact that she’s taking a step back and letting the ball fall in the doctor’s court is a welcomed gesture. 

“I’m not sure” she confides. She rolls her top up her stomach and undoes the top button of her work pants. 

“You’ll be fine” says Joan kindly, patting her shoulder, moving to leave. 

“Will you stay?” asks Eve suddenly.

For a moment Joan looks confused, like she doesn’t want to intrude. But if it’s not a baby, Eve and Howard may not know what to say to each other, and either of them could need someone to lend them a shoulder. She’s touched that she’s been chosen as that person. 

“Sure” she says. “I’ll stay”

“Thank you”

“Any time”

Joan takes her hand and Eve clutches it tight, betraying her calm outer exterior. Howard comes around the curtain, his hands freshly washed, and smiles lightly at the both of them.

“You ready?” he asks softly. 

“Mmm-hmm”

He lightly presses his fingertips into her abdomen, pushing them gently around with practiced hands. Obstetrics is not his area of speciality, but he knows enough to feel the difference; to notice the firmness of such an ordinarily soft area. He shares a meaningful look with his patient, but they don’t speak. Taking a seat on the stool, he picks up the gel and squeezes some onto her stomach. She quivers at the cold but doesn’t comment. 

Taking the wand and turning the unit on, he takes a deep breath and levels his gaze at her, sharing a significant look. She nods, once, decisively, and he shifts closer and touches the wand to her stomach. 

For a few moments, as he adjusts the position, there is nothing to see, until Howard shifts the wand lower and rests it there. The tiniest rhythmic flickering can be heard, and a blob of darkness appears on the screen among the expected grey haze. Eve gasps, her free hand flying to cover her mouth. All eyes stare, transfixed, at the screen.

“Is that-?” she whispers. 

“I can’t be sure, but I’d say you look just over 5 weeks” says Joan, noticing Howard’s mouth has practically fallen on the floor. 

“Five weeks?” asks Eve, shocked at herself for not noticing a change sooner.

“That’d be my guess. You’d have to get a specialist to check though- this early it’s hard to confirm, and I’m no OB”

“Oh my god” whispers Eve, her eyes getting watery. They watch the screen for a few more seconds, allowing the moment to linger.

Joan excuses herself, ostensibly to get towel to wipe the gel. Howard places the wand on the trolley, not much caring that there’s gloop all over it. His mouth is still hanging open, and he’s moving in a daze as he finally meets Eve’s eye. She’s holding back almost hysterical giggles, trying to process both of their reactions at the same time.

Joan pops her head around the curtain, hands Howard a handful of towel, and then discretely excuses herself again. Quickly wiping down the ultrasound wand, he turns to Eve and tenderly, reverently, starts to wipe the gel from her stomach.

“Say something” she whispers, covering his hand with her own.

He stops and looks at her, reality finally peeking through his shock. He sits and stares, and were she less sure on where they stood it would make her anxious. But all she can do is grin at him; at the excitement she can see is coming through. 

“Eve… Eve, we’re having a baby”

She giggles with unbridled glee and pulls her top down, doing up the button of her pants.

“I can’t believe it. We’re having a baby!”

“Yes we are. Are you happy?” she asks needlessly, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. 

“Are you kidding?” he asks, leaping up from the stool. He grasps her upper arms and pulls her into his chest, crushing her in a hug. She laughs again, tears of happiness almost falling, and wraps her arms around his middle from where she still sits on the bed.

“I’m ecstatic, Eve. It’s a dream come true”

“A baby” she whispers again. She knows it won’t sink in for a while yet, but through her shock she registers that everything in this moment feels absolutely perfect, and yes, it is her dream come true. She’s terrified, and overjoyed, and completely overwhelmed, but wrapped in his arms all of that fades away, because she knows no matter what he’ll be by her side, and they’ll see this through together. 

They stay that way for a moment, before Joan pokes her head around the curtain. 

“Sorry to interrupt; we got a multi-car collision coming in, ETA five minutes”

“Okay” says Howard, pulling away. 

Eve gives him one last smile as she hops off the bed. 

“We’ll make a time to go upstairs next week” says Howard, and Eve nods. She can’t stop smiling. 

Together they move the screen away from the bed in preparation for the incoming patients, as Joan orders the younger staff to get appropriate triage tables ready. Their extraordinary evening quickly turns into a routine albeit busy night and neither of them really gets time to process that they’re going to be parents, together. They don’t say anything to the staff, and trust that Joan won’t either, knowing too well the medical complications that can arise so early in pregnancy.

Yet despite the carnage of the accident, and the uncertainty, and the shock, the two doctors feel light as air, and if anyone notices, they have the good sense to not say a word.

**Author's Note:**

> This was the second chapter I ever wrote for this story, and I'm so glad to finally upload it. I had to fill in the time between the first and second, and I never expect that to be 4 other chapters.


End file.
